House Ikebukuro

From the outside, it may look like an apartment complex, but House Ikebukuro is actually a guest house-style hotel with 22 clean Japanese style rooms. If you want to get a feel for how it might be to live in a guest house or a Japanese studio apartment, this is your place. The cheapest rooms have a shared bath and toilet, though you can do an upgrade to an en suite bathroom if you’ve got the clams.

The location is quite good – only 6 minutes to Ikebukuro station. They also boast free wifi, shared computers, a shared kitchen with free tea and coffee, and standard in-room amenities like a/c, tv, toiletries, and so on. A bonus for the smoke-averse is that the entire hotel is non-smoking, so you won’t have to contend with stinky curtains and stale air. One strange thing is that they lock the front door between midnight and 7 a.m. – so if you’re planning to come back late, be sure to let the staff know.